LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Convicted of three brutal murders from 2016, a jury Wednesday recommended notorious killer Brice Rhodes spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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It took less than an hour for jurors to decide whether Rhodes should face the least amount of punishment, 20 years until parole eligibility, or the maximum of life without parole.
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Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Julie Kaelin set a final sentencing date for 1:30 pm. March 13.
Defense attorney Tom Griffith said they consider the recommendation a victory and noted that an appeal is also possible.
“(The judge) excluded death in this case, and everything since then has been a win in the Brice Rhodes case, in my point of view,” he said Wednesday. “The fact that you saved his life? Absolutely.”
Jessica Martin, the mother of one of the victims’ sons, still contended the judge and jury didn’t go far enough.
“Three life sentences is not enough for this man,” she said Thrusday. “And it’s not enough justice. He should have been put to death. … That’s what should have happened.”
Earlier in the day, defense for Rhodes acknowledged jurors had found Rhodes accountable for “horrible things” done in May 2016, including the murders of three men, but argued that they should show empathy and not lock him up for life in prison without parole.
“No matter what he did on his worst days, Brice is still a human being,” said defense attorney Thaisa Howorth on Wednesday. “I’m asking you to have just a little bit of hope with Brice,” who she said has struggled with childhood abuse, bipolar disorder and intellectual disability.
A chance of parole, “a simple spark of hope,” could make him work hard toward changing himself for the better, Howorth said. Rhodes could be eligible for parole in 20 years. “Give him that chance to show that he can change.
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“Brice struggles in just about every area of life,” she told jurors in her closing arguments. “You’ve held Brice accountable for his actions in 2016, and I’m not asking you to rethink that decision.”
But Howorth said Rhodes “does not need to be locked away forever. Brice is not a lost cause. He does have the capacity for change, the capacity for hope. … It may be easy to give up on Brice, do as the state asks for and throw away the key, but I’m asking you not to.”
However, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth Jones Brown told jurors to consider “the horrific nature of these murders,” the lives of teenage brothers Maurice Gordon and Larry Ordway cut tragically short, and the slaying of Christopher Jones, who was killed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And she noted this wasn’t Rhodes’ first criminal convictions, pointing out he had already been found guilty of assault, burglary, robbery and other charges before the murders.
“He was given chance after chance (with parole in other cases) … but it did not reform his actions and stop his criminality,” Jones Brown told jurors. She asked for a sentence of life in prison without parole so no one would have to worry about Rhodes again.
“I don’t think the family (of the brothers) should ever have to go to sleep again without knowing where Brice Rhodes is,” Jones Brown said.
After a week-long trial and five hours of deliberation on Monday, the jury found Rhodes guilty on all six charges against him, including three murder counts.
Rhodes was found guilty of murdering Jones, Gordon and Ordway in 2016, one count of tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of abuse of a corpse in the brutal beating and stabbings of Gordon and Ordway. Their bodies were burned.
Jones Brown told jurors that eyewitnesses testified that in early May 2016, they saw Rhodes kill Jones, who he believed was another man that had a bounty out for his death.
And just a few weeks later, witnesses testified Rhodes brutally tortured and murdered teen brothers Ordway and Gordon because he believed they were telling their family about the shooting, she said.
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Rhodes forced other teens to help kill the brothers and clean up the crime, she said.
Two of those men involved with the murders, teenage cousins Anjuan Carter and Jacorey Taylor, cut deals for lesser sentences and testified during the trial that Rhodes was the mastermind, forcing them to take part in the killings.
The prosecution rested their case Friday and the defense did not call any witnesses on Monday with Rhodes deciding not to testify.
Rhodes, 32, was charged with three counts of murder, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse and receiving stolen property. He is facing a possible life in prison sentence without parole.
Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Julie Kaelin found that while Rhodes is competent to stand trial, he is ineligible for the death penalty, ruling he has a documented history of serious mental illness or intellectual disability.
Rhodes had a history of outbursts in court, threatening at least one judge, accusing a prosecutor and another judge of having an affair, lashing out at several of his attorneys and calling several court officials racist.
He was told by Kaelin that he would be removed from court or shocked by an ankle monitor if he is disruptive during his trial starting next week.
Rhodes, who wore a suit and was not shackled throughout his trial, has been quiet and composed.
When Kaelin told Rhodes he has the right to appeal the case, he quietly responded with a thumbs up.
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